George Dvorsky

Oh, oh, looks like Curiosity has just stumbled upon a shiny object that NASA scientists believe might be a fallen part of the rover. Or it could be a piece of debris that fell from the landing mechanisms. Or something else? NASA isn't quite sure, so they've temporarily stopped scooping the surface until they get a better sense of what it is.

Curiosity's first scooping activity appeared to go well on Oct. 7. Subsequently, the rover team decided to refrain from using the rover's robotic arm on Oct. 8 due to the detection of a bright object on the ground that might be a piece from the rover. Instead of arm activities during the 62nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission, Curiosity is acquiring additional imaging of the object to aid the team in identifying the object and assessing possible impact, if any, to sampling activities.